Protect the future
by ElenaDeSevilla
Summary: After opening Eclipse, Lucy and Yukino return to the past to try save the future of a certain and hprrible end. With all these traps on their way, will they be able to write another and better story and maybe doing something more than saving lives ? [main pairings: NaLu, StingYu but also Rogura, Miraxus, Lyredy, Jerza, GaLe, Gruvia...]
1. Write another story

Chapter 1

**AN : Hi there ! So, this is my first Fairy Tail fanfiction :) I'm doing here an alternative version of the end of GMG arc, with as main event the dragon battle (it means an alternative present and future). I'm going to use lots of canon quotes from the manga but I also want to explore the future especially Lucy's, Levy's and Yukino's. This is the story of how Lucy and Yukino, instead of Lucy alone, managed to go back in time and try to save the future. The main pairings for this story are Natsu/Lucy and Sting/Yukino but you will also have Rogue/Kagura, Lyon/Meredy, Mirajane/Laxus, Gajeel/Levy, Gray/Juvia, Erza/Jellal because it's gonna be a long story. Even if you don't like one of these pairings, you could read this story because you won't have only Lucy's and Yukino's POV and I'm going to make lots of friendship scenes, most importantly, shipping is not the main thing here (although it has an important place) : saving the future is, and how they are trying to do too. I'm going to take time to develop the story like I want, and consider and two futures after the dragons' invasion (the first one with future !Lucy and future !Levy and the second one with Acnologia ruling the world, where future !Rogue is).**

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**Protect the future** by ElenaDeSevilla

Prologue :_ Write another story_

Lucy's woke up with a feeling of pain crossing her entiere body. She had blood and dirt all over her and tears were still streaming on her cheeks but she made it. They made it. At this moment, she felt a feeling she thought she would never feel again : hope. Opening her eyes, she looked next to her and saw Yukino in the same state as her.

"Yukino, wake up. Please !", she burbled in a croaky voice.

"Lucy-sama...", she bagan. Astonished, Yukino stared at her eyes wide open. "We... We're Alive ?!"

"We made it, Yukino ! We went back in time", she answered. "We still have a chance to... to change our future, to prevent all these horrible events and -"

She didn't continue her sentence though. They stood up and looked around : the street was empty. Yukino pointed out the sky with her finger : the moon was glowing. Before going somewhere else, Lucy summoned Virgo to change their dirty clothes.

"Open ! Gate of the Virgin." "Virgo !"

"You called me, Princess. What can I do for you ?" she asked.

"Can you change both of our clothes please ? We must not be seen for now."

"As you wish, Princess", she said while changing their clothes. They were now wearing both full-body hooded cloaks hiding them, with outfit from the celestial spirit world.

"Thank you, Virgo", said Lucy before she spirit left.

Opening the Eclipse Gate was a desperate last act to try to live on, so they didn't think much of a plan, meaning they have to save the future without knowing how. It was 4th July since merely 2 hours, according to Horlogium, so 3 days before the arrival of the 10 000 dragons and they were both alone. Yukino opened her eyes, as if she remembered something.

"We have to find Jellal-sama and tell him !"

"But how-" and then she remembered. At the moment, she didn't know why his last words to them were _this_ or why he gave her his necklace, still around her neck but now... "So he knew", she said with a shadow of a smile on her face. Even though themselves were not sure at all about going back to the past, he knew they would succeed.

"Do you know where is it, Yukino ?"

"It's almost at the exit of Crocus, near of the ruins of an old construction."

"Let's go !"

The wind was as fast as a train, but they kept walking through the city they even walked pass Bar Sun. Lucy began to cry but rapidly turned her head and began to walk away, thanks to Yukino's support who had placed a hand on her shoulder. They finally reached the place where Jellal was. They were standing here, waiting for him to show up with his fellows. No need to look out for them, they were behind thm, ready to fight.

"We'll show you who we are. Show me your faces too." said Jellal, still dressed up as Mystogan.

He looked at the uncovered parts by the capes and questioned bewildered "Women ?"

The two women in question turned "It's us", both said removing their hoods.

"No way ! How could you two be here ?" he stated, eyes wide open by seeing the two Celestial Spirit mages. _That's impossible, this magic, thought Jellal._

"We...We're from the future. In 3 days, 10 000 dragons will return and we'll lost to destiny. We have to prevent these events", anwsered future-Lucy.

"What you just said is just non sense...How could you even come from the future, if all of this is true ?", asked Jellal perplexed by this story.

Lucy seemed to clean into the marrow of the young man's thoughts and showed his necklace around her neck. Speechless, he watched his own necklace in her possession and automatically touch his neck. His necklace was still with him.

"We knew you would say that. You knew it yourself. That's why you gave it to me."

"But...How ? I would never take it away from me except-" By seeing the young women' faces, it will happen. He's gonna die.

* * *

_Jellal felt his strengh __running out. At this rate, he would die in a few three months of intense battle against something they couldn't even beat were hell but he carried on for Erza, for everyone's sake. With his sigh blurred and his numb body, he was slowly falling, when Lucy and Yukino arrived to catch him._

_"Jellal-sama...Jellal-sama, can you hear us ?" shouted Yukino, panicked at the sight of so much blood._

_He nooded with his head and said, spitting blood "Wh-Where is Erza ?"_

_"She's w-with Gray, they're battling against two of them."_

_"You know, I still remember the ti-the time where I watched the sky and the moutains on the edge of Crous, it wasn't a long time ago, in fact." Feeling Lucy's and Yukino's tears falling on his cheeks,__ he smiled at them, with all expression of pain gone._

_Lucy, as well as Yukino, didn't know why he was saying that but let him talk. "If only...We knew, back at the Daimatou Enbu. Maybe-"_

_"But we can't rewrite history, can we ?", continued Lucy sadly. They all knew it was his last moments, since the bleeding was too important and no healer was here._

_"Take my necklace."_

_"Wha- but why ?"_

_Jellal reached Lucy's hand and gave her his necklace "I trust you two to...to write another story."_

_"If we could, we would do it in a heart-beat, Jellal-sama."_

_"Pro-Just promise me and I could die in peace."_

_"What do you mean ? Please Jellal, don't die, you have to hold on for Erza, for us !" Lucy cried._

_"Erza...I wanted to see her for one last time."_

_The sound of footsteps mixed with sounds of desperate cries were heard "Jellal !". Erza, followed by Gray, arrived just at the moment where Jellal said his last sentence: "Erza...You were my redemption."_

_Mouth open, Erza let out a scream of pure pain and agony echoing in the air before rushing over his corps. She stayed like this for a while until Gray put gently a hand on her shoulder to tell her to untie her arms from Jellal._

* * *

After minutes of intense reflexion, he concluded they were telling the truth, no lies beneath their words. "Tell us more. How...did I die ?", although unsure to want to know.

"We can't tell it outloud, Jellal-sama. It's too horrible for us", affirmed Yukino with a dead serious face.

_It must be really terrible... Maybe it's better if I don't know_, _thought the young man_. But he wanted at least to know who managed to survive. The flash of a red-haired girl went across his mind. "Did Er- someone else survive ?"

Lucy couldn't stand Crime Sorciere's horrified looks and neither did Yukino. All the bad memories had emerged and hit them. "I let Levy-chan alone because...I had no choice"

Meredy, who didn't talk during all this time as well as Ultear, was becoming desperate because of this dreadful future. But future-Lucy's last sentence particularly stricked her "Alone ? You mean...Everyone died except the two of you and her ?"

No words needed: the receding looks were more than enough. "We need you to help us."

"But how ?"

"We didn't come with a plan. Using Eclipse was a desperate act. But maybe we could prevent some events like I said, I wrote them down in my diary. Here." She showed all the battles and deaths written in a rush on pages full of drops of tears and the day of it. Wendy, Sherry, Gajeel, Erza, Gray, Lyon, Sting, Juvia, Kagura... So many names, all familiar to them. They didn't know what was more horrible: seeing their beloved ones names or their own. Ultear cut out the heavy silence: "No... Impossible".

Yukino and Lucy knew why she said that while Jellal and Meredy were lost "Ultear, we're so sorry. It did save us for a moment but...It wasn't enough."

Meredy, panicked by this statement shouted "What is it Ul, what did you do ?"

Ultear didn't dare to speak immediatly because of her state of shock. "It seems like... I used a magic to steal time but it didn't much help much."

"Gray told us you save him that time. Somehow, he knew it."

So it wasn't entierely vain, she did save Gray, at least for this time. The man who gave her a chance to live her life as a person. Cutting her thoughts, Lucy affirmed "We can save Gray. Meredy, you were there with Lyon and Juvia. You save him and maybe all of them". With resoulteness, Meredy nodded.

"Jellal, you'll be the one who saves Erza. You'll have to find her" at the sound of the requiped mage's name, Jellal turned his head. "She was isolated during the beginning of the battle but she told us you saved her."

"One of the thing that rushed our loss was the fact that we didn't have enough healers because they perished. All our magic strengh were gone during a whole day sometimes. Maybe you could do something to help it."

After hours and hours of discussion, Lucy and Yukino finally left the members of Crime Sorciere. That was a start, but they didn't really know what to do next. All they wanted to to was writing another story.

Still watching them leaving, the three mages wondered if they could erase the future which was drawn up to all of them. Fear overbeared because of this gruesome future they didn't even imagine a few hours ago, but a hint of hope represented by Yukino and Lucy was there, with the determination to help them as much as they could.

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**AN : So this is the end of my first chapter, which was an introduction, a prologue but I feel like it is important for the purpose of my story. It's the beginning of the explanation of why and how Yukino and Lucy went back at this moment, in the past, that's why t****he flashback (or rather flashforward) of Jellal's was really important, and as you could guess, Yukino and Lucy cared about Jellal, after all, these months of battle together created bonds, you'll see.**** I'll ****"introduce" pairs in the next chapter. Don't be shy, comment this chapter, I won't bite :)**


	2. Late night encounter

Chapter 1

**AN : Here's my first "real" chapter, I may say, because the main pairings are gonna be introduced. This chapter takes place during the fourth day of the GMG. Be aware, I really love angst and I think it is interesting to see how Lucy and Yukino deal with grief and loss on one hand but also hope to save everyone on the other hand. I put this chapter quite quickly compared to usual because I'm really inspired and also I'm on vacation so it helps a lot xD I case you're lost, the things written in **_italic_** are thoughts or flashback, it depends of the situation.**

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**Protect the future** by ElenaDeSevilla

Chapter One :_ Late night encounter_

Lucy sat down to write their encounter with Crime Sorciere, and a few theories as well. Though Yukino asked if she would like to write for her, Lucy declined, desired to be able to use her only hand properly.

Waiting for Lucy to finish, Yukino asked "Lucy-sama, don't you think we should...Warn our past-self soon ?"

"You're right...But we have to wait the right moment."

As the sun rose, they both took time to think about this whole situation. Being able to go back into the past was their only chance to save Fiore from destruction. But it was also a chance to see their beloved ones. Although it wasn't really the ones they knew, seeing their faces, empty of all traces of sadness and new scars was something they couldn't ignore.

"We could go see them at the arena, don't you think ?"

"Y-yeah, I really want to. I miss him more than anything." the blonde mage's voice started to crackled up. Natsu, the man who never gave up, even against 10 000 dragons. Natsu, who died while she was inconscious. Natsu, who gave her strengh to change all of this, to see him alive again.

Yukino, seing her sadness put a hand on her shoulder "I know. But we can make it ! We can write another story."

_Another story..._ These words hunted them. It almost became their leitmotive to keep fighting. Seeing their faces would definitly remind them their happy time. Lucy would see Levy with her bright smile that she used to have.

"Levy-chan..."

"I can't help but think about her too. In the middle of all of this, she's the one who suffered the most."

"We all suffered."

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Crowds of excited people filled the arena for this fourth day. Yukino knew why. After Minerva's attack, Fairy Tail A team was ready to fight and everyone was pretty excited, Sabertooh team included. _Sabertooh..._ She almost felt nostalgia. Although she was excommunicated, she spent great moments with some members.

"You miss him, don't you ?" asked Lucy with a small smile.

A faint trace of red appeared on her cheeks, understanding what she meant. "Well o-of course, and I miss Rogue-sama too" she said trying changing the subject.

Lucy always found the moments shared between Sting and her friend during the past months somehow romantic but she didn't say it outloud, scared to push out her feelings too far. "I know" was all she could say.

The entrance of new Fairy Tail team was particulary exciting. Natsu, Gray, Erza, Gajeel, Laxus. All so confident and alive. The crowd went wild at the announcement of the dragon slayers fight and this time, Lucy was here to see it and Yukino as well. The fight was intense as expected and after surprising turns of events, Natsu send Gajeel away. _Typical Natsu, thought Lucy_.

"They are all so impressive..."

"Yeah, especially Natsu."

The fight ended with the glorious victory of Natsu, smiling at Sting and Rogue and probably challenging them to fight later, according to Lucy. Looking at Yukino, she saw she wasn't the only one who smiled and felt almost extatic. Just like everyone, they moved from the arena.

"It was refreshing to go there."

"Absolutly. The fight was amazing."

"This scent...I know this scent." Frozing at this sentence, Yukino knew that Sting, and possibly Rogue since they were inseperable, spotted her. _No, please not this, not right now_.

But it seemed like luck wasn't on her side. "Oy, you two stop !"

Seeing the two persons cooperating, he asked "Who are you ?"

Removing their hoods, the two celestial mages left the men in front of them in state of shock.

What stunned Rogue the most wasn't the fact that they were together. It was all the scars and bruises covering their faces "Lucy Heartfilia...Yukino ?! What are you doing here ?"

By instinct, Sting approached Yukino and touched the scar on her right cheek gently. He felt tears falling on his hand, and immediatly took his hand away. "What's with the tears ? And what 'bout the scars ?" he interroged, trying to regain his cocky attidude.

"I'm sorry Sting-sama, Rogue-sama, I'm being so weak !"

_Is she reffering to the other day ?, thought Rogue. No, that's not it, I can feel it._ And his instinct was never wrong.

Holding her hand, Lucy tried to cheer her up with a joke "Come-on Yukino, don't you think we cry too much ? Let this for our victory !"

With a little smile, she nodded. "I apologize for this reaction, I was just too emotional to see you again. I missed you two..."

"What do you mean ? We saw each other just two days a-"

"We're not who you think we are." interrupted Lucy.

"What the-"

"We're from the future."

Minutes passed before one of them blurted out "Wait what ?"

Seeing their puzzled reaction, she showed she only had one arm anymore. "My scars, Yukino's scars... My arm. They are all because of one single battle."

"Dragons. We fought and lost against dragons." finished the silver-haired woman.

They were paralyzed, unable to move at the mention of dragons. "Dr-dragons ? That's impossible, they all disappeared !"

Lifting up her shirt, Yukino showed traces of dragon's claws on her belly. "See what it did to me...To us... To you soon."

"How ?"

"After the end of Daimatou Enbu, they appeared destroying everything and everyone on their way."

"And how are you even here ?"

"Do you know the Eclipse gate... It's a gate to travel in time. It finds its energy from the magic used during the past tournaments. We used it to go back there and try to erase parts of the invasion."

"Parts... why didn't you just go back before now to erase this?"

"Some thing are written by destiny, we can't modify that. But we can change how it is gonna end... And Eclipse wasn't as powerful as it used to be since-"

"Since everyone is gone."

"Including us ?"

"W-we don't know actually."

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_Looking at their friends, she said in a solemn tone "This plan is our last chance !"_

_"Are you sure ? We can still fight you know."_

_"With Lucy-sama, we must do it."_

_"But..."_

_"Lucy-sama just told me Natsu-sama died._"

_Sting and Rogue felt this familiar yet atracious sensation of burning on their eyes. Yukino felt the same thing but continued "We know it's dangerous but if it works, none of this would happen. Grief, deaths..."_

_He couldn't find something to say against that. "We'll help you, no matter what."_

_"We have to open Eclipse again and then, we'll be back in the past. The only thing is we don't know at when it will lead us."_

_Lucy arrived, her face still full of traces of tears mixed with dust. "Lucy, we're so so-" "We have to go. NOW !" she said in a rush, interrupting Rogue._

_Running until they reached the Mercurius Palace, they tried immediatly to open the gate, in vain. Sting sighed, "This is impossible ! How are we gonna do ?"_

_"Lucy-sama, please out your golden keys ! Combined with mine, we'll use all twelve to open the gate !"_

_Sting was speechless "You want to open the twelve golden keys at the same time ?"_

_"We're using the celestial spirits ?!"_

_Throwing their keys in the sky, they began to glow. The two man were amazed by all this magic that surrounded them. They looked the constellationnistes__ mages calling their spirits __"Oh celestial spirits of the twelve golden paths, lend us the power to eradicate this evil ! Open, twelve gates of the zodiac !"_

_Feeling hope again, Sting and Rogue watched all the celestial spirits coming at them same time "That's... Amzing !"_

_After amount of efforts, they celestial spirits succeded "It's opening !" said Lucy still holding Yukino's hand._

_"You did it, you rea-"_

_Douzen of dragons were coming, certainly after having felt the magical aura. They recognize one of them, Zirconis, who had already killed Wendy, Lisanna and countless mages._

_"Oh Mavis, they have already found us !"_

_"Go..."_

_"But you two can't do this alone, you need help."_

_Rogue knew they wanted to help, but they had to let them to go "You are our only chance to stop this, go !"_

_One of the dragons started to spit flames on Rogue, who became a shadow to escape it._

_Seeing their hesitation, Sting went closer to Yukino, enough to make their foreheads touched "Don't worry about us, just go. I know you two will save us. And if you find my past-self, let him help you. Tell him about the importance nakamas and family. You changed me once, so maybe you could do it twice !". Still with his eyes closed, he kissed gently her forehead before joining Rogue._

_She knew it was a farewell. But maybe they could meet again... She followed Lucy who took her hand and went through the gate. The last thing they heard were screams of pain and anger._

* * *

After hearing parts of the story, Sting stated "We may have survived !"

"I-I'm not sure. Hopefully..." It was more than obvious that Yukino didn't believe it.

"But we're dragon slayers, it's in our nature to defeat them."

"But it wasn't enough against 10 000 dragons."

Sting grabbed Yukino, panicking "Did you just say 10 000 dragons ?"

"Y-Yes."

"And Natsu-san ?"

"Gajeel ?"

"Th-they perished. Although Natsu was able to resist during a few months against them. Even Master's attacks were vain."

Kneeling on the ground, Rogue whispered "No way..."

"But we came here to change things !"

Rogue looked at them, amazed by all this hope, even after all their losses, especially after that. He was also intrigued by Sting's behaviour towards Yukino. During a few instants, his cocky attitude disapear and he was more than woried about their ex-comrade. Sure he was worried about Yukino too, and Lucy Heartfilia as well, but Sting... _Maybe he's feeling guilty ?_

"At this moment, Lucy-sama is with her friends, and I'm a temporary sergeant for the Eclipse project. Except of us and Crime Sorciere, you're the only ones who know about the future. Your help will be precious to us."

"Anything."

"We have to go to help Natsu, Wendy, our past-selves and the others but meet us in front of the Mercurius Palace at the end of the Daimatou Enbu."

"Huh, Natsu Dragneel is there ?"

"He will be. He was delevering us but we were caught because we couldn't use magic. We have to act before Eclipse corrupts our magic."

The two celestial were leaving mages when they stopped their steps. "And do one more favor. Don't hate Fairy Tail. I know you feel a need of renvenge for today's fight, but they just care about their nakamas...They're good persons, though they can be quite stubborn, I must admit."

"Sting-sama, I know you don't understand yet, but think about Lector-sama. Don't you consider him as a nakama ?"

"Uhh um I... Why are you telling that anyway ?"

"Remember, choose love and hope over hatred, always."

Lucy said one last sentence that surprised the two young men. "Goodbye, Sting-kun... Rogue-kun."

Footsteps surprised them. It was a royal guard.

"Hey you two ! This is a "no trepassing" area." Turning their heads, the twin dragons saw the two girls already left.

Recognizing who was in front of him, his tone changed "Aaaah um, you're the Sabertooth mages. I leave you alone, you can do whatever you want."

Alone again, the dragon slayers stared at each other, lost after what happened.

"Look, on the ground !"

Sting picked up the little book on the groud. "It must belong to Lucy or Yukino. I'll give it once we'll see 'em."

They almost forgot what will follow at the guild. But it seemed ridiculous now compared of what was waiting for the country on July 7th.

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**AN : This chapter was longer than the prologue wow, I have so much inspiration :p This chapter had important Sting/Yukino moments, especially in the flashback. I wanted to etablish their relationship just before Yukino went through Eclipse gate. I will show how Sting changed because of all of this in the next chapters and as you may have noticed they are hints of NaLu but we'll get to that soon don't worry (be aware, painful moments coming). I really enjoyed writing this encounter with the twin dragons and use actual quotes from the manga, it's like a whole "what if" story. It's like it almost could have to real ! Don't be shy, comment to share your opinion, and follow this story. This is just the beginning...**


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